Posted by Andy on October 29, 2001 at 10:13:53:
In Reply to: any exercise can help air support?? posted by Gozillatuba on October 28, 2001 at 22:53:04:
Exercise, while being good for one's overall physical condition, does not necessarily directly affect one's air support. If I understand the meaning of your question, you are interested in exercises which will directly affect/improve your air support. You must be very careful here. The way the muscles of the body work when breathing in and out is very different from the way they work during an athletic endeavor. Focusing on the athletic side can actually impede your ability to move air. Many of the muscles in the body can contract in opposition of one another in an isometric fashion, resulting in "stiffness", and the inability to move. This happens in the abdominal area when you build up pelvic pressure by "bearing down", such as in defication or child birth. Another way this happens is when you might contract your muscles to protect yourself from a punch in the stomach. In these examples, the muscles in the abdominal area and torso are contracting against themselves, resulting in a rigidity which will inhibit the movement of air, and will hurt your air support. Arnold Jacobs used to say "strength is my enemy, weakness is my friend." When playing, you want to focus on moving the air in and out as easily as possible. Focus on the action of sucking air into the mouth, and blowing it out again, rather than what muscles are causing this to happen. If you work on moving large volumes of air under very low pressure, you will find that your air upport will improve. You might want to pick up a copy of "Song and Wind" from Brian Frederickson. It will explain this far better than I have.